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However the Office for National Statistics (ONS) believes that the trend doesn’t reliably mean sex crime is on the rise nationwide.

Its parallel crime survey showed no significant national rise in the proportion of people reporting being sexually abused.

The ONS believes that police forces record sexual offences better than they used to do and that victims are more willing to come forward.

This includes crimes that took place longer than one year ago.

It highlighted the recent sexual abuse allegations in football and Operation Yewtree, the police operation set up to investigate Jimmy Savile and others, as developments that might have made people more likely to come forward with reports.